Field hockey rides win streak into Big Ten play against Northwestern

Fresh off a win against Ohio, Indiana is ready to keep up its momentum.

After a four-game road trip during the last two weeks, the Hoosiers will return home to take on No. 15 Northwestern at 3 p.m.  Friday at the IU Field Hockey Field.

This game will open Big Ten play for IU and begin an arduous second half of the season. In their final eight matches, the Hoosiers will face five currently ranked
opponents.

“We’ve got to focus on us,” IU Coach Amy Robertson said. “Some of the things that we’re working on right now are being hard nosed, very organized and limiting our opponents’ chances when they have the ball.”

Both teams have had similar seasons up to this point — the 6-2 Hoosiers have won two straight games after dropping back-to-back contests to Stanford and California.
As for the 7-2 Wildcats, after losing two games in a row, Northwestern beat California as part of its current four-game win streak.

Since the Hoosiers’ two-straight losses, they have looked to improve, watching video and finding new ways to attack their opponents.

“We’ve worked a lot on defense,” Robertson said. “The thing we have to continue to work on against a good team like this is to not play safe, but passing the ball early, finding each other, moving it (and) transferring it.”

Senior forward Jaclyn Zamudio, who scored the game winner for the Hoosiers against Ohio, said she has immense confidence in her team.

“Playing a Big Ten team, we’re fighting as hard as we can and trying to fix the kinks that we didn’t do so well in California,” Zamudio said. “As we do that, we can definitely beat Northwestern.”